ONCE IN A LIFETIME. By Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, directed by
David Pittu, sets by James Noone, costumes by Meg Neville, lighting by
Howard Werner, Atlantic Theater Company, 336 W. 20th St., Manhattan. Seen
Thursday.

"That’s the way we do things around here, no time wasted on thinking," says
a character explaining the Hollywood way. "You don't know anything about
anything. If what they say about the movies is true, you'll go far," predicts
another about a sweet but dim-witted colleague. And, indeed, he does.
No time wasted on thinking for him.

The surprising thing is that Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, in the first
of their eight made-in-heaven collaborations, hadn't even visited Hollywood
when they crafted "Once in a Lifetime." Their hilarious 1930 Tinseltown
satire, which set the standard for all others yet to come, was based
entirely on what they read in "Variety" and heard through gossip.
But no one who’s sent up Hollywood since then has ever contradicted
their conclusions.

It's nearly as surprising to find this confection--and in a sterling
production that plays the comedy as though it were fresh-minted--at the
Atlantic Theater Company, where drama and black comedy tend to prevail.
The rather dour and dark Irish play, "The Beauty Queen of Leenane," since
moved to Broadway, was last seen on this stage.

Director David Pittu guides his versatile cast of 21 through about
twice as many roles, all played with period-true piquancy. He also
takes one on himself--of a hapless writer who’s arrived in Hollywood as
"one of a shipment of 16 playwrights," a role Kaufman himself played in
the original production.

James Noone's sets, lit by Howard Werner, evoke B-movie glamour, while Meg
Neville's costumes capture the glitz of the nouveau rich and famous. The
scratchy-sounding swells of movie music that separate scenes also help to
set the tone. Because it's all so retro and so fast-paced, it's easy to
overlook the stereotypes that occasionally pop up.

Set in 1927, just as talkies were coming in, the play focuses on three
vaudevillians who decide to head west and set up an elocution school to
help movie actors make the transition. They include the tough-talking
and practical-minded May Daniels--beautifully played by Johanna Day in a
performance that should earn the Eve Arden award for split-second, dead-pan timing--her
fiance Jerry Hyland (Tony Carlin, who does nicely in the least showy of the lead roles) and their aforementioned dim-witted partner, George Lewis. John Ellison Conlee brings slowness of thought to dizzy new heights in an adorable performance.

But what makes this production fun throughout is that snappy performances
show up all over the place, even when the actors play bellhops or cigarette
girls. Leslie Beatty and Isabel Keating strike wonderful poses as two
haughty silent screen stars whose voices screech like chalk on a blackboard.
Peter Jacobson caricatures an overlyartistic German director with a
killer accent, while Susan Knight gets laughs as an officious receptionist. Kate Blumberg shines in the role of a not-very-talented ingenue, while Amelia White puts some oomph in the role of her mother.

In larger parts, Cynthia Darlow plays a gloriously flamboyant movie
journalist who revels in her power and in the gifts she receives, and
Larry Bryggman hits the right notes as studio mogul Herman Glogauer,
who hires, fires and rehires the enterprising elocution trio. Glogauer
laments the golden days when he could easily make money in the movies
even when he made a good one. This is a play, not a movie, but it's
definitely one of the good ones.